


ripcord

by brandywine421



Series: next of kin [2]
Category: Daredevil (TV), Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Punisher (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Families of Choice, Friendship, Gen, Gun Violence, Hurt/Comfort, References to Depression
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:21:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24338068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brandywine421/pseuds/brandywine421
Summary: At some point after the gunfire stopped and the sobbing started, a paramedic pushed his phone into his hand.  It took a moment for him to realize it was his burner and not his actual phone - and another moment for him to realize most of his friends were still ignoring his calls because of the Daredevil news.  He couldn't call Fogs, or Karen, or any of the Marines, not when - not now -"Double-D?  Hello?  Helllloo?  Did you butt-dial me?""Peter."*Set in the 'grenade jumper' verse - how Matt reluctantly gets adopted by Peter and Aunt May.
Relationships: Frank Castle/Maria Castle, Matt Murdock & May Parker (Spider-Man), Matt Murdock & Peter Parker
Series: next of kin [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1757083
Comments: 46
Kudos: 162





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hm. I think you have to read the Matt/Wade one first for this to make sense but I'll give it a go.
> 
> If you want to read it as a standalone, you probably need to know that - 
> 
>   1. Matt and Wade were childhood friends/sweethearts.
>   2. Wade enlisted in the Marines and served with Frank, Logan, Curt and pretty Bill. Matt was Wade's next of kin and knows all the Marines and was always Wade's home when he was stateside.
>   3. Maria Castle and Matt are BFFs.
>   4. Matt met Peter while giving a 'career day' kind of talk and has been mentoring him for a while.
>   5. Matt's canon is mostly the same otherwise except Foggy, Karen and Maria all find out about Daredevil and are in the midst of giving him the silent treatment when pretty Bill makes his move.  
>    
> 
> 


  
At some point after the gunfire stopped and the sobbing started, a paramedic pushed his phone into his hand. It took a moment for him to realize it was his burner and not his actual phone - and another moment for him to realize most of his friends were still ignoring his calls because of the Daredevil news. He couldn't call Fogs, or Karen, or any of the Marines, not when - not now - 

"Double-D? Hello? Helllloo? Did you butt-dial me?"

"Peter."

"Oh, we're doing names? You don't - are you all right? It's barely dark, what's wrong?"

Damn.

"Hey, just tell me - we're a team or so you tell me four times a week - use your words, Matt - "

"They're taking me to the hospital, I don't - I have to go, it's not - this is the wrong phone, I need an - I don't know - just - don't look for me for a few days and maybe check the psych ward if you don't - "

"Okay, you can stop using your words, I remember what you said about meds messing you up and I'm going to triage that slur in your voice and the lack of cops as unexpected emergency - I'm also going to assume you didn't mean to call me but you're going to be so glad you did - Hell's Kitchen so that narrows it down to three places - "

He swatted at the oxygen cannula the paramedics were trying to get on his face while he was distracted but something was wrong with his radar and he missed all his targets.

He finally managed to focus on Peter's tinny voice in his ear. "She's putting her network of nurses on the job until we get there - I will explain everything later, Aunt May - it's not - he's not in the suit, it was an accident - it was an accident, right? What happened?"

"I was at the park - "

"Oh my God, it's all over the news - I know where you are, just - hang on and I'll - thank you for calling, I know how hard it is for you to practice what you preach and I swear I'll help. May's going to come to the hospital and I'm going to your place to get your papers and hide whatever needs hiding - just - hang on, okay?"

* * *

When he woke up again, he was still in pain and dulled with medication but the chaos of the hospital was buffered by only one person in the room with a closed door. Instead of being overwhelmed with bleach and antiseptic, bombarded with the scent of sick and dying - he smelled lemons. There was a cut lemon in the room.

"Tell her you're very sorry but he's not accepting visitors, no you may not web her to the wall - do you want me to talk to her? Okay, take her number and stick it to the Tupperware and ask her to tell all her friends that he's not taking calls and requests privacy at this time. Right. He's still sleeping, they didn't have to operate but they did some repairs before they stitched him up and he might have to do physical therapy for the leg but - he hasn't been awake to call you, yes. Love you, too."

May Parker. Shit.

He'd met Peter's aunt a few times but never had her full attention, not like this. She trusted him enough to train Spider-Man but he didn't know exactly how much Peter told her about their actual sessions - or conversations. He'd been very open with Pete, the kid needed to know exactly what he was getting into when he suited up - which was something Matt had learned the hard way when he lost his friends.

May respected Spider-Man's mission, but Daredevil's friends - well, wasn't that why he'd ended up with a kid serving as his proxy because he didn't have anyone else?

"I'm not trained for interrogation or confrontation, but I can spot a kid faking sleep - are you faking?"

"Maybe," he said, voice hoarse and painful - he needed the pain to remind him to breathe. "How long - "

The crackle of - ice chips, he realized when she scooped the cold shards between his lips. "Chew on that while I poke you, then we can talk. Peter always told me how ridiculous you were in real life but - let's just say I'm impressed," she said, patting his cheek and staying true to her word by starting a checklist of poking.

* * *

"I appreciate all that you've done for Peter - and all that you'll continue to do for him, but I had to take the lead in this particular situation," May said. "He told me that you were going through some personal drama and hadn't changed your medical power of attorney after the drama and I fudged some paperwork."

He winced when he inhaled too sharply but he could feel the pain without the dull thrum of the meds. "Thank you."

"We can discuss it later. They're limiting your pain medication and the quiet room is a new program they've instituted for patients with severe PTSD, you won't have it long term but if you can be cooperative and absolutely promise to do everything the doctor says after they get you up and walking with no complications - " she started in a familiar Parker ramble that he knew how to break.

He found her hand and squeezed her fingers. "I promise to do whatever you say if you can help me get out of here."

"I take my responsibilities seriously and I expect you to lIsten to my medical advice after you're discharged. Peter calls you when he needs lawyer or vigilante help - I want him and now you to call me for medical help, can you agree to that?" 

"It won't hold up in court but for now - yeah."

She squeezed his fingers. "I'm sorry about the boy. Did you know him?"

He closed his eyes, focusing on the lemon and the low hum of the white noise she'd set her phone to play when she wasn't using it. "Yeah. Known him since he was old enough to crawl. I walk him home from school with his sister if his Mom works late. I wasn't going tonight but - "

"The bullet that hit him went through you first. You pushed him and his sister down, Peter hacked the police records before I could stop him but - Matt. Are you listening?"

"Why did he hack the records?"

"To make sure your other name wasn't down anywhere, and to change your real name to 'Redacted' and keep you out of the papers. He's been reprimanded."

"I really need to regret calling him," Matt said honestly. "But both of you are making that very hard."

She kissed his forehead lightly and checked his monitors. "Peter's been worried about you for weeks, not Daredevil - you. He didn't tell me the details but - I'm guessing your friends didn't handle your night activities the way you wanted?"

"I feel like I've done everything wrong for a very long time and now - Frankie's dead."

"Could you have stopped it? Were they after you?"

He shook his head and regretted it. He would never talk this much if he wasn't still under some kind of medicinal influence but it was much more managable than the earlier narcotic floods, loose-lips or no. "They're after Frank, I warned Maria - I - shit, she's going to think its my fault - because of DD - "

"Not if she knows you as well as I think. I don't think I said a word for three days after Ben died, not even to Peter, but there's nothing we can do about it right now. Rest, keep absorbing those fluids so your stats stay steady. Okay?"

"Okay."

* * *

Maria waited until Frank's soft voice settled into a steady rumble through Lisa's closed door before picking up her sneakers and tiptoeing to the closet in her socked feet. She turned the key in the safe and took out the clip, checked it, and then the matching gun, slotting them together before locking the safe and swallowing the key.

She'd sent the text before she sent Frank to soothe Lisa back to a medicated sleep and knew her appointment would be waiting. She checked Frank's phone with the street camera apps to make sure he was alone and the street was empty. The bottle of wine and box of Kleenex perched on his seat reassured her that he didn't suspect the true reason for her call.

Matt told her weeks ago - suspicions only, he'd said, and she told him not to get involved, to keep his dangerous cosplay away from her family - she'd chosen her side and and - God, she should have told Frank at least instead of writing it off - she fucked up - 

But she could fix it. She would fix it.

* * *

He let May lead the conversation with the doctors, speaking softly and explaining that Matthew had a sensitivity to medication and loud noises and was very accident prone due to his insistence on independence. He let her tell half-truths and whole truths and nothing that he cared enough to deny.

God.

Jr. was dead. Maria would be out of her mind and Frank - hell, he'd probably slip into that psychotic fugue state of rage that almost ruined Logan's life, was still ruining the men in Curt's special ops group.

He couldn't think about that. Wade was dead, Matt was Daredevil and Maria - the friend he got to keep between Wade's visits on leave - the friend that was his and not Wade's first - Maria didn't want him around. He wasn't Frank's friend without Wade, or Curt's or Logan's - they wouldn't understand why he went out at night to silence the screams of the innocent - Wade would understand - but not - 

Maria didn't understand. Foggy, Karen - they didn't understand. They didn't trust him and he couldn't - he couldn't think about them.

He made his choice, for better or worse - for always.

May patted his good leg and stepped outside with the doctor and he tuned the buzzing EKG and nauseatingly slow drip of the saline out to focus on the words but she returned without a hint of the word 'discharged'.

"Can I sign out AMA?" Matt asked but she patted his leg in the same place before she sat down in the seat. 

"I wasn't sure about your team-ups at the beginning, but before Ben died - we tried to make sure he was never exposed to violence or crime - it's enough he lost his parents and we never wanted him to have to go through anything like that in person. We probably should have known better - "

"May," Matt shook his head. "He's a great kid - "

"I know, but he was a sub-par street hero until you took him under your wing. You taught him how to fight, how to keep himself safe and get the civilians out - taught him about the laws and the risks - you helped him in your own backwards way. Every bone you break on a bad guy is another reminder to Peter that he's a pacifist and can solve his own problems - "

Wait, what?

She smiled and continued. "He looks up to you like a teacher, but not to follow in your footsteps. He's making his own path by learning from your lessons and your mistakes. Getting shot saving some kids wasn't a mistake, having a depressive episode isn't a mistake - calling Peter wasn't a mistake. I think shutting yourself away from people that care about you is a huge mistake, but with the secret identity and threat of jail time from possible traitors, to quote Peter, it's one we're not dealing with right now."

He waited for her to get back to the point. "So I can go home?"

"No, you're being released into my care and it's more - convenient if you stay with us in Queens. Peter doesn't trust you not to limp off a bridge, again, I'm quoting," May lied.

Oh.

"Temporarily, until your leg and side heals and you get your - affairs back in order. Peter says your bills are due but you have money in the bank - "

He didn't mean to clench his fists but it happened anyway and she inhaled sharply. "I forgot."

"Peter had a key to your apartment already and you've been second on his emergency contact list for over a year - I'm asking you to trust him - and me - outside of a mask. You'd do the same for him, wouldn't you?"

"Of course but - "

"But nothing. Grown-ups need a hand sometimes, too, and if nothing else - nobody will know to look for Daredevil in Queens."

* * *

Frank skidded to a stop in the street, clutching Curt's phone in his fist. Maria had taken his gun, locked the goddamn safe but she'd fucked up with the phone - the recording software was set up to stream the video to a specific list of recipients instead of saving it to the specific phone and his friends - Bill's friends - got a live stream of her trap ten minutes before Curt broke down the door to the house.

Ten minutes of Maria's spiel, how she feared Frank's temper and suspected his involvement in nefarious schemes - he'd be glad later to have missed that part - but he'd been patched in to the next ten minutes of Bill's counter-spiel agreeing to every lie she'd given him and adding the accents to prove his involvement. Bill set him up - Bill set up his family to die - Bill killed Junior - Bill - 

Please please please please let him get there before - 

The phone was silent, the speaker turned up but quiet so he knew he was close but not close enough when the sound of the first gunshot shook his bones.

* * *

"How angry are you?" Peter asked as he carefully slipped under Matt's arm and used his Spider-strength to take his full weight from the crutch while May tipped the cab driver.

Matt shivered and squeezed Peter's arm. "Thank you. Don't let me be angry, I'm too sad to handle it," he murmured, not wanting to break his early promise to be honest with the kid. He'd broken too many promises to break another one today.

"Only two days in the hospital after two bullets - you're setting a high bar that I have no intention of testing for myself," Peter said.

"Thought you bullet-proofed your suit with your overtime money," Matt said, processing a moment too late his mistake at the stuttered heartbeats of the Parkers.

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that while being secretly relieved that I heard it. Did you get everything ready?" May sighed as the cab pulled away.

They talked at him across a lobby, to an elevator where he forgot if he was counting floors or heartbeats or steps.

Peter crouched in front of him, filling his senses and he pulled back his focus. He was in Peter's apartment, May's warm and cautious form several steps away but safe - this was - okay. "Okay."

"Okay," Peter repeated with a slow nod, taking his wrist and pressing his thumb over the pulse point to reverse the sensation and make sure Matt could feel his fluttering heart. "Can you meditate without moving your leg? Tether on me like we do at practice?"

Gift. Peter's heartbeat was a beacon, unmistakable and breakable - thunderous - a gift.

"Rest, I'll go through the layout of the place again when you're steadier."

* * *

She was prepared for the kick of the gun, the sound of it but she didn't expect the splash of blood and the silence that followed the boom as Bill's voice dissolved into gurgles and gasps like the bone and viscera behind his face - she pulled the trigger again - and again - how many did it take to get the goddamn monster to fall - 

The booms turned into clicks and then hands - rough familiar hands - folded around her fingers and peeled the gun from her grasp. She clutched his fingers like the trigger but the only sound left was the click - no - the drip drip drip - 

"Maria just stop - "

"He - he killed - "

" - Stop - I saw, everybody saw - please - "

* * *

"Please, no more Gatorade, I can't handle it," Matt groaned when he sensed May looming over him. "I've reached my limit on fluids."

"If you won't eat then you have to drink - give - " she said, snatching the bottle of water he'd conned Peter into giving him in lieu of the 'electrolyte rich sweet bombs' his aunt insisted on.

"You can manage actual metal piercing your flesh but whine about sweet drinks, you're so weird," Peter said.

"Are you on the ceiling?" Matt asked.

Peter dropped down beside him on the couch. "Your mapping's better, so is the appetite - "

"I feel waterlogged, I'm afraid if I eat anything I'll vomit," Matt admitted, slumping back on the couch. "Please, no more."

"Well, at least we know your kidneys are still working fine considering how many times you went to the bathroom today."

"It's gross that you both know that but reinforces my protests against more hydration," Matt said, "I'm lucid enough to discuss the 'temporary' status of this arrangement."

May huffed but took a seat in the armchair. "We moved enough of your savings into an account that's set to autodraft your bills each month for the next six - so you'll have power, water and shelter - "

"And we'll have the security to know you have a place to live until you change it back to the way you like it," Peter chimed in.

"We also put you on a waiting list for a new office space and set up a new number and voicemail for your clients to use and deposited and documented the checks you got over the past few months that you failed to open," May picked up. "Since you refuse to see a therapist, I've spoken to your priest and he's going to send nuns to your apartment if you don't visit him within the first twelve hours of your return to Hell's Kitchen."

"Veto!" Matt protested but regretted it and reached for the crutch for another bathroom break.

"You still have a while to get used to the idea, we're not letting you leave Queens on an empty stomach so we're thinking next week if you keep up the hunger strike," May called after him.

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

May heard Matt's voice when she returned from her errands and while she was glad he wasn't giving them the broody silent treatment anymore, she hoped he hadn't stolen a phone to call a cab.

"Hi, Ms. Parker," Ned called out when she glanced into the living room on her way to put groceries down. MJ grinned and gave her a thumb's up.

She wasn't sure she wanted to know. "Everything all right?"

"We're babysitting, well, I am, MJ's harassing your guest," Ned beamed.

"Trade out if you're not going to pay attention," Matt said, flicking a carrot stick at him and nailing him between the eyes. "Did I get your mouth that time?"

"Eat your own vegetables," Ned said, chomping to drown out MJ's snickering but giving his seat to May and taking the groceries from her.

"I hope it's all right, but I sent Peter out on a task. I don't know enough about Queens yet to map where he is when he's out at night and - I maintain my insomnia is a chronic condition," Matt said.

MJ was visibly surprised at his openness and May smiled. She liked having another adult around, even if he agreed with Peter as often as he took her side - but he was making a genuine effort to prove that he was well enough to leave the very second she gave him permission. She was pretty sure he would go home and brood, but - they were working on it.

"He's at a bodega, he's talking to a lady, from Beijing if my accent's right. East Jackson?"

MJ tapped on her tablet and raised it to show May the map program. "He's pretty good with his focus."

"He's trying to get used to the city sounds, but we're very happy he's not twitching every time the dog on the fifteenth floor sneezes," May said, earning a tired smile from Matt.

"You don't mind us picking Spider-Man's mentor's brain?" MJ asked.

"They're picking apart my choices, but according to the juveniles, I should have told my friends ages ago. Not that it changes the ending because people are different and have their own moral code that is not for us to judge," Matt countered.

May rolled her eyes and patted his shoulder. "Telling a teenager that being an adult is hard never works, Matt, they never believe it."

"How old were you when you started training?" MJ asked as Matt unzipped his hoodie to let her check his side. His leg was doing a lot better but he seemed to forget about the stitches on his side when he was trying to win points on his crutches.

"It's rude to stare," he told her but MJ only raised an eyebrow.

"You're deflecting."

"I know you feed Peter, but he's getting another hot dog - I think he's stopped at every cart he's passed," Matt said to May before turning his head toward MJ. "I have a lot of baggage talking about my training. I was twelve when my teacher sought me out at the orphanage."

She didn't mean to flinch but her heartbeat must have skipped if Matt's sudden tension was any indication. "Twelve?"

"He's blind and similarly skilled with his senses, thought I would make a good protégé but I didn't think too much of the killing requirement of joining his war. Wade was the soldier, not me, I just wanted to - I wanted to do something more with my gifts instead of thinking of them as a disability."

May refocused her attention on the - thankfully - intact stitches and zipped up his jacket.

"The reason I approached Peter in the first place is because I could tell he was different and I didn't want him to get picked out by someone that would train him the way I was trained. I'm barely keeping my head above water now, could you imagine if I had jumped in before I finished high school? He should be focused on his transcript and having safe sex, not protecting his borough," Matt said.

Ned returned with his phone and a bottle of Gatorade that he dropped over Matt's lap to make him catch it automatically and frown as he figured out the shape. "Peter wants to know if he's completed his quest yet."

"No, he needs to bring Mr. Murdock all the therapy," MJ said.

"Coffee, he's near a Starbucks, and make sure he brings his Aunt one, too - he's got my card," Matt told Ned.

"More Gatorade and coffee for all of us, sent," Ned recited as he texted.

"Did you talk to your priest today?" May asked him quietly.

"Last night. And I heard from Lisa, she would really like me to come to the funeral when they set it up. I haven't talked to her parents yet," Matt admitted.

"But it's on the agenda, right? Baby steps?" she asked.

"Tomorrow's quest involves Peter getting my phone replaced, so maybe," Matt conceded.

* * *

"She won't talk to the cops until her lawyer gets there, has anybody heard from Murdock?" Curt whispered with a wary look toward Lisa where she sat with Sarah and Leo.

"Left him a couple of voicemails but his office and his personal phones say he's unavailable to return calls," David whispered back.

"Wasn't he at the park?" Curt asked. 

David caught his son on his way from the kitchen. "Hey, did you see Matt at the party?"

"The paramedics took him," Zack said. "You probably didn't see him but he pushed Lisa and Jr. off the carousel, cops said he would be okay when we asked. Lisa called him with Leo's phone, she says her mom's not talking to him."

Curt covered his face. Even the kids were keeping secrets. "He was hurt?"

Zack nodded slowly when his dad crouched down beside him. "Can you ask her to ask him to call one of us? It's really important. We didn't know he was hurt."

"Is her mom in trouble?" Zack whispered.

"Maybe, but we're working on it, don't let her worry, okay? You doing okay?" David asked softly.

"Yeah, but we're already upset about Junior and it's weird his parents aren't here right now, right?" 

"Yeah, but we're working on that, too," David promised.

He turned to David when the kid was out of earshot. "I thought Maria and Matt were close."

"They are, but whatever broke up his law firm put them on the outs, Sarah couldn't get the scoop out of her and Frank doesn't talk about shit like that," David said. "You sure she's asking for Matt and not his buddy?"

"She's definitely asking for Matt," Curt sighed, wondering how he missed all of this. "If we didn't know he was hurt at the park, you think Nelson knows?"

Curt had known Matt a long time but after Wade's funeral he'd stopped making it a point to keep in touch. He meant to talk to him at the party but the ambush interrupted a lot more than chat plans. 

"From what I remember about Foggy, he'd at least have called if he knew. Think he moved to Manhattan, though."

"I need somebody to get me a number and soon," Curt said.

* * *

"Are you sure this isn't going to send you into a spiral of setbacks?" Peter asked, dangling his replaced, fully charged phone out of his reach.

Matt inhaled through his nose and tried not to snarl. "Peter, please. I appreciate everything you and May have done for me but I need to start checking my own messages."

"And returning some calls, too, right?" Peter asked as he released the phone into Matt's hands.

"We'll see," Matt sighed.

Peter hesitated. "They mirrored all your old settings at the store for the voice software and - "

"You can stick around in case I need tech help," Matt conceded just to get the kid to relax and it worked when he dropped onto the loveseat across from him. He pushed in an earbud and let the familiar robotic voice roll through the count of voicemails and unread texts. It was a lot.

"You're making a face," Peter said.

"I need to triage these - " Matt sighed but the phone vibrated in his hand.

_"Karen. Karen. Karen."_

Oh.

"Too late for that. You should answer. I'll make coffee," Peter offered, a treat and privacy - he must have made a worried face.

He raised it to his ear. "Hello?"

She inhaled sharply. "You answered - I didn't think you'd answer. Hey, hi - are you all right?"

Dammit. "Getting there. What's - "

"We have so much to talk about and it's going to happen soon but - when's the last time you talked to anyone?"

"What day is it? I just got my phone back, maybe five minutes ago," he admitted.

"Okay, well, not okay at all but - Maria killed that Russo guy and refuses to talk to the cops until her lawyer gets there but her lawyer's not answering his phone."

"What? No, that's - "

She took another sharp breath. "Shit, you really don't know. Oh God, are you in the hospital or - "

"Karen, tell me - "

The line muffled as she spoke to someone else but he was the one to gasp when Foggy's voice picked up. "Matt, can I take Maria's case for you? I promise - shit, let me help, we just found out what happened and - I need to help."

"I don't know what you're talking about - " Matt insisted but Peter's thrumming heartbeat ticked up in the kitchen.

"Maria needs a lawyer and you - I'm told you need to rest, some nurse keeps text-bombing my phone telling me so but you know she won't see me unless you give me the okay."

"A lawyer for what, Foggy? What did she do?" Matt asked.

"I don't know the details yet, hush, Karen - but I'll get her out of it. Will you let me?"

This was why Foggy and Karen left, they knew it would come down to jail and bail and warrants - 

"Matt. Please, buddy - we had a fight, a big one, but you're still my friend - always, remember? I get that we have to talk, God knows it's time but - this is something I can do right now. Do you trust me?"

* * *

Foggy had to schmooze three different cops and the DA before Mahoney gave him permission to talk to Maria. Frank was stuck to her side and he couldn't help but wonder who was with tiny Lisa if Matt was hiding out in Queens - Queens! Matt hated leaving Hell's Kitchen and he was in Queens - and Frank Jr. was dead.

And none of it had anything to do with Daredevil.

He pushed open the door and ignored Frank's grunt of surprise to go to Maria first. "Matt's unavailable, he's on mandated medical leave and he said I could do this for him."

"Medical - oh God - he was only there because the kids asked him to come - " Maria whispered, understanding blooming on her face.

He sat down across from her and squeezed one of her hands before taking out the thin casefile. It would get a lot thicker but hopefully they could get her name out of it. 

"Foggy, he warned me about Bill - he didn't get dressed up and handle it himself - he brought it to me and laid it all out and I - I didn't believe him. Matt warned me that he was a monster and I didn't listen and that monster killed my son," Maria blurted out, clutching his hands tightly. "If I'd believed him and told Frank weeks ago, or told Matt to handle it - Junior wouldn't be getting fitted for his first tux in a cold box - "

"What are you - " Frank hissed but Foggy cut him down with a glare as he smoothed his hands down Maria's arms to calm her.

"We can't talk about that right now, okay?"

Maria nodded immediately. "Right, but I had to tell you since - where is Matt?"

"He's still recovering from what happened, nurse says six weeks before she'll clear him to work but I haven't seen him yet because I need to get you out of here first," Foggy said carefully. "The cops have gone through all the video and they're sympathetic as hell - but you need to make sure your statement matches."

"I had suspicions about Bill and had to find out the truth and - I'll say I didn't mean to kill him?" Maria hesitated.

"Are you saying Matt knew about this?" Frank asked.

"Matt's hearing is - better than normal, and he's paranoid as hell," Maria said. "I didn't - God, why didn't I believe him?"

"Because shit like this isn't supposed to happen in real life," Foggy sighed. "Tell the police - not about the hearing, but the suspicions. Do you have a concealed weapons permit?"

"I'm married to Frank, of course I do - " Maria started.

"Not for the weapon she used," Frank added.

"He killed my son, he deserved worse," she whispered.

"You should've told me, I would've fucking - " Frank growled but Foggy shook his head.

No, she should have let Daredevil handle it.

* * *


	3. Chapter 3

* * *

"Aunt May is going to be really disappointed she's missing the meet and greet," Peter said when he noticed Matt shifting anxiously on the couch.

"He's getting off the elevator. I - don't know what to expect," Matt confessed.

Peter squeezed his shoulder. "It's going to be fine. Even after you had the big fight, you've never said a bad word about the guy. I'll let him in, stay off your leg."

God, he was so tired of hearing about that - he wanted to go home so he could make his own damn rules - meditate until he could walk wherever he fucking wanted - 

"Good, pouting is an appropriate response," Peter said before he swung open the door. "Hi, you must be Mr. Nelson."

"I - okay, yes, call me Foggy - are you Peter? I spoke with your aunt and - "

"Then you should know all the warnings already, good - he's in there," Peter cut him off. "You can hug him if he's following the rules."

"Rules?"

"Stay off the leg," Matt said as Foggy filled the space with his familiar cologne, mixed with Marci's and - Maria's. He must have come straight from the police station.

"Matt." Foggy covered his cheek with his warm hand before pulling him into a tight hug that he let go on as long as allowed. "Goddamn, you scared the hell out of me - I'm so glad you're okay and I'm so fucking sorry - for so many things, but - tell me what happened before I curse any more in front of the strange child I'm desperately hoping isn't your illegitimate kid - "

"Peter and his aunt helped me survive the hospital and are helping me get my affairs in order - "

Foggy flinched but didn't leave the couch. "You hate hospitals and Wade told me over and over that I was never to let you go alone because you'd end up in Psych - why didn't you - "

Peter cleared his throat. "Not arguing about Matt being ridiculous, but his good phone got busted so he only had his secret phone when the medics got to him."

Matt waited for Foggy to ask why Peter's number was in that phone but it didn't happen. "I can understand that, kid, but he had plenty of chances to call me since then."

Peter thumped him hard in his good side and he inhaled, knowing what the kid wanted. "You know how I used to get - low - sometimes. Docs put it on file as a depressive episode and - I haven't been doing too well lately and - I just haven't been thinking clearly."

"Out loud and everything, I take back any insult to the kid or his aunt for that alone," Foggy blurted out.

"Aunt May will need to hear the apology and possibly have it put on paper, Matt's got her all invested in documentation," Peter said, squeezing Matt's shoulder. "I'm going in the kitchen."

"Thanks for backing me up," Matt said.

"He made scary 'watching you' eyes and did the finger across the throat thing - you're totally grooming him well," Foggy whispered.

"What the hell is going on, what did Maria - "

"She shot Billy Russo in the face, dude, like Charles Bronson style - no hesitation - exposed a helluva illegal arms scandal inside the Federal government, you know, just to make you earn your paycheck - or mine as it turns out - " Foggy hissed back.

"Why - she didn't believe me when - "

"She believes you now, enough that she didn't tell anyone what you already knew until she sent them a link to a live-stream of her crime - which was less self-defense and more vigilante justice, which - this is such a mess, man, and I'm - I wish you had called me - but I guess I can understand - "

"Wait, really? *This* you understand?"

Foggy shook him gingerly until his head bobbled. "I know you haven't been the same since you lost Wade. He was the only friend that ever convinced you he was family - you never believe me or Karen, hell, maybe even Maria - we fucking love you and will always be there for you even if we're having a fight. Families fight, but we still love each other, okay?"

 _"I want it on record that we told you so!"_ Peter called from the other room.

"I'm going to like that kid, aren't I?" 

"Yes, which is why you're never allowed to interact again," Matt replied.  
  


* * *

  
"How is Murdock mixed up in all this?" Frank asked once he had Maria safe and un-indicted in the cab.

"He told me that he was suspicious of Billy and asked - if he should get involved. I see him more often than you or the other Marines and he didn't want to cross any boundaries. I told him it wasn't his business and - be angry with me, not him."

"How would he have handled it?"

"Billy would be in jail and all his secrets would have been out without dead bodies," she said, raising her chin. "I won't betray his secrets."

"So I am going to have to yell at him in front of everyone to find out what the fuck - "

She smacked him hard on the knee and the driver's eyes cut to her in the rear view mirror so she smoothed her hand over the spot to compose her 'hysteria'. "You stopped hanging out with him after Wade died, why would he come to you with his worries? He trusted me - hell, if he'd told you first - would you have believed it? Billy was your best friend."

"You're my wife, thought you were my best friend," Frank replied after a beat.

Wow, really?

"Fine," he retracted when she raised an eyebrow. "So you stopped talking to him when he told you about Bill?"

 _Dammit_. "We had a misunderstanding before that but he still brought it to me first."

"His other friends had the same misunderstanding if they lost track of him - didn't know he was somebody I needed to worry about; he was always steady as a rock," Frank said, more talking it out than interrogating her. They were both tired and Junior was still dead, would always be dead.

"He's been there for me a lot more than you have over the years, sorry but it's true. I won't let you be angry with him for my fuck-up. He tried to do the right thing and - "

"You keep defending how loyal he is, which only makes it more confusing that you'd drop him for a misunderstanding." He stiffened after a moment and nodded. "I think I get it."

"You don't," Maria hissed but his face was bright with realization that made her stomach flip.

He ignored her, paying the cabbie and helping her out of the taxi before kissing her forehead and pulling her close on the sidewalk.

"It would make sense, more than - yeah, that bastard could pull it off. But you're wrong about what would've happened - Daredevil takes on gangsters and drug rings, not special op soldiers - you should have told *me* - "

She knew he wouldn't have believed her, hell, she didn't believe it at the time.

"I'm sorry I brought Billy into our lives, I'm sorry - "

"Fuck you - none of this is your fault," she sniffled into his shoulder. She wouldn't cry, not when she owed Lisa an explanation for leaving her and the truth that her mom was a murderer - she would need all the tears for that.

"Can't bring Junior back, or take the blood off your hands, but I promise, Maria, baby, I promise - "

"I know, Frank, me, too - promise," she cut him off.   
  


* * *

  
"I don't want him on his feet longer than - "

"Ten minutes at a time, trust me, May, we're going to Mother Hen the hell out of him," Karen said, embracing her warmly. "Thank you for taking care of him."

"He's a good friend, don't give him a setback when he's come this far - tell Mrs. Castle the same," May replied.

"Your aunt is amazing," Foggy whispered to Peter.

"Duh, she's the best," he replied, checking that Matt was unhappily buckled into the backseat of Karen's car. "I'll see you in a couple of days, all right?"

"Call if you need me before that," Matt replied with a tired smile. They both knew Peter would check in much sooner than a couple of days.

He closed the door and turned to Foggy, offering him a key. "We changed the locks."

"Thank you. For everything, kid - I still don't get how you know him but I'm grateful. Is there anything we can do to - "

"Actually, there is something," Peter cut him off. "You guys are Matt's best friends, and that's great - but you both need to back off about Daredevil's business. Matt's your business, Double D's mine. Deal?"

Matt tapped against the conveniently child-locked window, frowning.

"Oh, wow - " Karen sputtered.

"We've got him on lock," May said with a confident nod at her own slang. "Stay out of it unless he brings it up - it'll be safer for everyone."

Foggy took Karen's arm and nodded. "Okay, for now - that's - you've done too much for us to argue tonight."

Peter wouldn't tell May about Matt's muttered warning from inside the car that they were going to regret challenging the united front of Foggy and Karen. He trusted Matt to handle it from his end.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> This is so hard to explain but basically, my muses decided writing a Matt/Wade AU fic wasn't enough and are demanding a trilogy to culminate in Team Red. We'll see if it works out, fingers crossed.
> 
> _(Have you noticed the lack of Avengers but the existence of X-Men? What canon have my muses stumbled upon?)_  
>  *Thinky Face Emojii*


End file.
